Teen hotshots sizzle in Indy support race qualifying

Saturday, July 21, 2012

By Marty Klinkenberg, edmontonjournal.com

Star Mazda series drivers Sage Karam, left, and Zach Veach, both Americans, pose for a photo while signing autographs at the Edmonton Indy race series at City Centre Airport on Saturday, July 21, 2012.

Photographed by:Ian Stewart, edmontonjournal.com

EDMONTON — Barely old enough to have an operator’s license and too young to rent a car, a group of teen drivers are taking their rivals to school at the Star Mazda Championships.Camilo Schmidt, a 16 year old from Venezuela, won the first of two races Saturday in the championship series that will conclude at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on the undercard at the Edmonton Indy.Earlier, a pair of 17-year-olds — Sage Karam and Zach Veach — finished as the top qualifiers. The two will also be vying for the crown Sunday in the racing class, which serves as an early training ground for the IndyCar circuit. “It’s kind of like going to college,” says Veach, who takes courses online at home in Stockdale, Ohio, and will soon be starting Grade 12. “If you want to be a doctor, you go to medical school. If you want to be an Indy driver, the road goes through the Star Mazda Championships.”A farm boy whose father was once the U.S. tractor-pulling champion, Veach has yearned to be a race car driver since he was four years old. To help with his son’s pursue, Roger Veach sold his trucks and tractors and gave up his own dreams.“He gave me the opportunity without even knowing whether I’d be good at it,” Zach Veach says. A skinny kid who loves muscle cars and girls, Zach started driving Go-Karts as a 12-year-old. Five years later, he finds himself driving $150,000 sports cars at 150 miles per hour on weekends across the United States and Canada.Both he and Karam race under the banner of Andretti Autosport. That team is managed by Michael Andretti, a member of the Indy Hall of Fame and the son of Mario Andretti, one of the sport’s most legendary superstars.“I am really privileged to be in the spot where I am,” Veach says. “The things I have been able to do with my life are very special. “Michael Andretti hangs out in our pits sometimes. He makes me nervous.”Another former Go-Kart racer, Karam lives in Nazareth, Penn., right beside the Andretti team’s compound. Karam’s father is Michael Andretti’s fitness trainer.“I definitely feel like I have the coolest job in the world,” says Karam, who will be entering Grade 11 in the fall.Between races on Saturday, the two teens joined an even younger Schmidt and a group of other Mazda drivers signing autographs in the paddock area set up on the grounds at the City Centre Airport.Within a few minutes, Karam and Veach were both signing T-shirts worn by teenage girls, and eyeballing leggy young women wearing short skirts and advertising a beer product. “My office is amazing,” Karam says, looking around.